ANTI-SIKH RIOTS: SIT TO REOPEN CASE AGAINST KAMAL NATH
Union home ministry issues notification after giving nod
The Special Investigative Team (SIT) looking into the 1984 anti-sikh riots is reopening seven cases of rioting and arson, including one in which the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee claims Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath, then a Congress member of Parliament, was involved. Nath’s media coordinator said the decision to reopen the case is driven by political motives. In 1987, the Ahuja Committee in its report to the government said as many as 2,733 Sikhs were killed in the riots following the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984, by her Sikh bodyguards.
NEWDELHI: The special investigation team (SIT) looking into the 1984 anti-sikh riots is reopening seven cases of rioting and arson, including one in which the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) claims that Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath, then a Congress MP, was involved.
Kamal Nath’s media coordinator Narendra Saluja said the decision to reopen the case is driven by political motives: “It is a 35 years old incident and the BJP is playing politics. There was neither a report lodged nor a court case against him (Kamal Nath). None of the commissions indicted him in connection with the incident. The matter is being raised after 35 years because Kamal Nath is now the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh.”
In 1987, the Ahuja Committee in its report to the government said as many as 2733 Sikhs were killed in the riots following the assassination of then PM Indira Gandhi on 31 October 1984 by her Sikh bodyguards.
In a fresh notification, the SIT has asked for information from “individuals, group of persons, associations, institutions and organizations” on seven cases which were either closed for lack of evidence or resulted in acquittals. The seven cases being relooked includes a case where two Sikhs were killed by a mob outside the Gurdwara Rakab Ganj.
In December 2018, the DSGMC petitioned the home ministry to reopen the Rakab Ganj case. The ministry said on April 9 that : “considering the “seriousness of criminal cases relating to the 1984 riots, the Competent Authority has decided that SIT may also investigate/further investigate/ reinvestigate the appropriately serious cases, which have been closed on account of discharge of the accused, if any, on fresh evidence/facts/coming to light.”
“We are ready with all the evidence. The SIT should examine Kamal Nath on the basis of the evidence,” President of DSGMC, Manjinder Singh Sirsa said.
The seven anti-sikh riot cases were registered in 1984 at police stations in Vasant Vihar, Sun Light Colony, Kalyanpuri, Parliament Street, Connaught Place, Patel Nagar and Shahdara.
“This is to inform to all individuals, groups of persons, associations, institutions and organisations that if they have any information in respect of any of the cases, they may contact the officer in-charge of SIT police station,” the SIT said.
Sirsa claimed that Kamal Nath’s name was never included in the FIR nor was he investigated by the police.
The SIT was set up in February 2015 following a recommendation by the Union home ministry-appointed Justice (retd) G P Mathur committee. The three-member SIT comprises two Inspector General-rank IPS officers and a judicial officer.
The SIT has so far re-opened around 80 out of the 650 cases registered in connection with antisikh riots following the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Gandhi was shot dead by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.
A total of 3,325 people were killed in the riots in which Delhi alone accounted for 2,733 deaths, while the rest occurred in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and other states.
The Delhi Police had closed 241 cases citing lack of evidence. Justice Nanavati Commission had recommended reopening of only four of them but the Modi government constituted the SIT for re-investigation of all cases which the probe team finds appropriate.
The CBI had reopened and re-investigated only four cases. In two of them, the probe agency had filed a charge sheet and in one, five persons, including a former MLA, were convicted.
Last year, Congress leader Sajjan Kumar was sentenced to life for his role in the anti-sikh riots.
On December 10, 2014, the Narendra Modi government had announced an additional compensation of Rs five lakh to the kin of each of those killed in the 1984 riots.
In May, 2016, the Home Ministry had announced that 1,020 families, which had been hit by the riots and migrated to Punjab from different parts of the country, will be given Rs two lakh each as part of a centrally-sponsored rehabilitation scheme.
(With agency inputs)
MP CHIEF MINISTER’S MEDIA COORDINATOR SAYS THE DECISION TO REOPEN THE CASES IS DRIVEN BY POLITICAL MOTIVES; SAYS THERE IS NO REPORT OR COURT CASE AGAINST THE CONGRESS LEADER